3 ms·

> The latest move comes at a time when Moderna has been working on developing vaccines for skin cancer, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) using its mRNA

> The latest move comes at a time when Moderna has been working on developing vaccines for skin cancer, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) using its mRNA technology Will it still be possible to get vaccines developed without mRNA or will that be phased out completely? Also, I didn’t know there were vaccines for skin cancer, so this will likely be replacing whatever the old treatment with traditional vaccines

jfengel 4y ago
There isn't a vaccine for skin cancer. This is a completely novel thing, enabled by the ability of mRNA vaccines to be developed rapidly once you have a target. It seems certain to replace flu vaccines, which are incredibly awkward. They take a very long time to produce, which means they need to start well in advance of flu season. Some years they guess right about what influenza variants will be prominent; others they don't. If the mRNA based flu vaccine works, I doubt they'll go through the immense effort of developing the conventional vaccine. But childhood vaccines (MMR, DPT, etc) work pretty well, and cause little harm, so they don't seem like good targets for replacement any time soon. The first targets will certainly be things that aren't currently under control, which has the advantage of being both (a) good for world health, and (b) good for their bottom line. They may some day try to replace the existing conventional vaccines, especially if it spawns a new industry looking for markets to target. But for the next decade at least it'll all be new stuff.
gus_massa 4y ago
For covid-19, we got mRNA vaccines (small blobs of some mRNA surrounded by oil) , vector virus vaccines (genetically modified virus,) and traditional inactivated (aka "dead") virus vaccines. I think there are no attenuated virus vaccines. So I expect for some time to still get new vaccines that uses different method. mRNA is more expensive but more flexible, so I expect it to win in the long run. But as the sibling comment says, they will be used first for new illness because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Anyway, a replacement of the polio vaccine may be a good candidate.

jfengel 4y ago

There isn't a vaccine for skin cancer. This is a completely novel thing, enabled by the ability of mRNA vaccines to be developed rapidly once you have a target. It seems certain to replace flu vaccines, which are incredibly awkward. They take a very long time to produce, which means they need to start well in advance of flu season. Some years they guess right about what influenza variants will be prominent; others they don't. If the mRNA based flu vaccine works, I doubt they'll go through the immense effort of developing the conventional vaccine. But childhood vaccines (MMR, DPT, etc) work pretty well, and cause little harm, so they don't seem like good targets for replacement any time soon. The first targets will certainly be things that aren't currently under control, which has the advantage of being both (a) good for world health, and (b) good for their bottom line. They may some day try to replace the existing conventional vaccines, especially if it spawns a new industry looking for markets to target. But for the next decade at least it'll all be new stuff.

gus_massa 4y ago

For covid-19, we got mRNA vaccines (small blobs of some mRNA surrounded by oil) , vector virus vaccines (genetically modified virus,) and traditional inactivated (aka "dead") virus vaccines. I think there are no attenuated virus vaccines. So I expect for some time to still get new vaccines that uses different method. mRNA is more expensive but more flexible, so I expect it to win in the long run. But as the sibling comment says, they will be used first for new illness because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Anyway, a replacement of the polio vaccine may be a good candidate.